I am the current president of UFVA, and I'm excited to serve as a leader in an organization that I have loved for over 20 years.

UFVA's mission is to support and enhance the potential of the motion picture arts. As our industry wrestles with issues of diversity and inclusion, I would like to highlight a valuable resource that provides key guidelines for inclusive practices in the classroom.

The EDIT Media website is a project begun by the Gender and Diversity & Inclusion Caucuses of the University Film and Video Association and fully developed as a recent sabbatical project by UFVA member Jennifer Proctor of the University of Michigan, with the assistance of a large number of faculty from across the United States.

Though the guidelines and resources of EDIT Media focus on best practices for production courses, they are also widely applicable to all film and media studies courses, and available to anyone who would like to use them. Thank you to everyone who participated in this important and collaborative enterprise, especially Professor Proctor.

A second big announcement for January 2018 is that submissions for this year's conference are now open!

New Mexico State University is delighted to host the 72nd annual gathering of the University Film and Video Association in Las Cruces from July 23-26, 2018. The oldest public university in New Mexico, NMSU is a top-tier institution that foregrounds transformation and self-discovery, especially in a cross-cultural context -- an apt focus for this year's UFVA conference theme:

Submissions that embrace this theme are encouraged, although proposals related to all areas of film and video practice, education, scholarship, and innovation are welcome.

Please note that UFVA members are limited to two (2) submissions total in all conference categories (Films & Videos, Papers & Panels, Scripts, New Media, and Workshops), not including responses.

Click here to go to the conference page, where you can get all the details about UFVA 2018, including submission guidelines.

For questions or concerns about the conference, contact the Conference VP, H.D. Motyl.

Best wishes to all for a lovely and productive year!

Sincerely,

Heather Addison

UFVA President 2016-2018

Statement of Inclusivity - 2017

The University of Film and Video Association is a community of makers, writers, researchers, scholars, and speakers. As such, we recognize that it is our responsibility to stand in support of the values of freedom of expression and to speak out when those values are questioned or threatened, potentially harming the members of our vibrant and diverse community.

Numerous national and campus-centered events of the past year have been emotional and divisive, making conversations about politics, policy, and social issues and the practice of free expression challenging in the midst of an increasingly polarized environment.

The UFVA maintains an unwavering commitment to building and promoting a genuinely inclusive and harassment-free community for students, faculty, staff, and media-makers of all identities, backgrounds, abilities, and beliefs.

In particular, we support those who have been affected by recent Executive Orders instituting travel bans, or who may be affected by future restrictive immigration orders, which we recognize will result in deep and lasting harm to our community. The UFVA endorses border and immigration policies that protect the open exchange of ideas and the dignity of all citizens, nationally and internationally.

The University Film and Video Association pledges the following:

We respect and affirm the dignity and the inherent rights of each member of our academic community;

We value our colleagues because of our diverse backgrounds and perspectives, not in spite of them;

We will continually and actively foster an environment of mutual respect for the free expression of all individuals, so long as this expression excludes blatantly intolerant, hateful, disruptive, threatening, or harmful speech or actions against a person or group;

We will address and denounce harmful speech or actions;

We will attempt, to the best of our ability, to educate our faculty, staff and students about and within an affirmative and inclusive community;

And, we will hold ourselves and each other to high standards of respect, mutual understanding, and open-mindedness with regard to all populations and identities.

The University Film and Video Association (UFVA) is an organization of professors, scholars, and film and video makers.The organization is based in the U.S.; it has members throughout the world. The UFVA is an international organization where media production and writing meet history, theory and criticism. The UFVA members are image-makers and artists, teachers and students, archivists and distributors, college departments, libraries, and manufacturers. UFVA holds an annual conference and publishes the Journal of Film and Video, a periodical featuring articles on film and video production, history, theory, criticism, and aesthetics. The UFVA is one of the principal U.S. academic organizations for studying media.

President's Corner

July 1, 2014

And here we are, about one month away from our conference in Montana. I look forward to seeing many of you there. It promises to be a great meeting.

In the meantime, our annual elections are upon us. This year we have people, both new and old Board members, running for a variety of offices. I like the idea of new blood and the incoming president – Francisco Menendez, from UNLV – will need the same amount of help that I have been getting from the board, perhaps even more because there will be a lot of initiatives that have only begun to get going that will need your help.

The University Film and Video Association (UFVA) is an organization of professors, scholars, and film and video makers.The organization is based in the U.S.; it has members throughout the world.The UFVA is an international organization where media production and writing meets the history, theory and criticism of the media. The UFVA members are image-makers and artists, teachers and students, archivists and distributors, college departments, libraries, and manufacturers. UFVA holds an annual conference and publishes the Journal of Film and Video, a periodical featuring articles on film and video production, history, theory, criticism, and aesthetics. The UFVA is one of the principal U.S. academic organizations for studying media.